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Quitting the bad in our culture

Tag Archives: giving

I believe there is a major shift happening in our Capitalism in which profit has stopped being the sole purpose of doing business. Traditional Capitalism is just strictly focused on making a buck, ignoring even your own team members and customers needs. However, this new Capitalism that is boiling, has intertwined profit with purpose. New business leaders and entrepreneurs are looking for a higher purpose, they want to make the world better, as Steve Jobs once said, make a “dent” in the Universe. Furthermore, not only are they looking out in delivering greater value for the customer, but also they want to be servant leaders, and actually improve the lives of their team members and the community. I believe this will take our business culture in a better path and create a society that will use profits to shape a better world. It will create a world that promotes giving and generosity. They use to say that at the end of the day you take money to the bank not the customer’s smiles, but I think in the future we will need to have customer’s smiles in order to take money to the bank.

What can we take from this new approach in Capitalism, and make it relevant to our personal jobs or careers? We want to be doing something that has a purpose. We want to know we are making a difference, and our efforts are appreciated. Money cannot be the only motivating factor dragging you to work, because I will almost guarantee it will lead to job dissatisfaction and burnout. Surprisingly the top 3 reasons people quit their jobs is not because of the money, the top 3 reasons are:

1. Lack of appreciation

2. Inability to grow

3. The co-workers

Thanks for reading!

PS- My sincere apologies for not being as active in my blog. I will not make excuses or say I didn’t have time, because saying “ I didn’t have time” simply means it wasn’t important enough.

The other day I was reading that if you live in America, economically, you are in the top 5 or 6 percent of the world, can you believe that? That means that we are better off than at least 94 percent of the world’s population. When we see things such as occupy Wall Street and the fight against the top percent and the evil rich people, we are not realizing that we ourselves are that top percent. Here in America, we have too much stuff; too many material possessions. Think about all the stuff you own? How many TVs do you have in your household? How many cell phones have you owned in your life? How many shoes, clothes, and jewelry do you own? I’m not saying it’s not ok to have great things, everybody likes nice stuff, but sometimes we must evaluate if the purchase is really necessary. We should never, ever, forget to be thankful for the things we already have. During this Christmas season, I would like to encourage everybody that is reading this to be unselfish. It is the season to give! I don’t quite agree with the people that buy themselves presents for Christmas, as I said it’s the season to give, not to buy yourself more things. As you set up your Christmas budget make sure you have a “giving” category. Even if it’s a small amount try to give with your heart. I am a firm believer that giving will offer a greater return than any other thing in this world. Givers get happiness, getters don’t. This Christmas let’s give something, if you don’t have money, then give hugs, compliments, a poem, or a letter; get creative, but do something that will brighten someone’s day and make them smile. Let’s live this Christmas a little different than all the Christmases before, and practice being unselfish by giving.

“When you get outside of yourself and make a contribution to others, YOU REALLY BEGIN TO LIVE” – John C. Maxwell.

The best answer I have heard to this question comes from John Maxwell, when he stated, “My goal is not how much money I can make; it is how much money I can give .” One of the most satisfying things we can do with money is to give; think about it, have you ever given even a tiny amount of money? How many times did the action of giving truly come from your heart? Do you remember how good it felt? There is nothing that compares to that feeling. I heard a story about a very wealthy man that took his family out on a $35,000 dollar cruise; after he got back from the cruise, he went to a low income community and gave away $50,000 dollars worth of bicycles. That man said the cruise was a lot of fun, that he and his family visited the most beautiful beaches in the world, but despite this magnificent cruise, what was most gratifying to him, was seeing the smiles of the kids when he would hand them those bikes. You might think or say to yourself, well, I wish I had $50,000 dollars to give away, but unfortunately I have my own financial issues; trust me when I say we all have our own financial issues, but you don’t have to wait to be rich to give, you can start to give now! I used to think: when I’m rich I will donate, when I’m rich I will give. But why wait? However, you do have to remember to give from a full cup; meaning that, obviously, if you are in a tight budget situation then you can’t really donate money, but you most definitely give in other ways, for example, give time, friendship, kind words, knowledge, or anything you consider that you are wealthy in. I, myself, do not have these huge amounts of money to give away either…..but I will one day, so in the meantime I stick to smaller amounts. The crazy thing is that God will give us what he knows will pass through us. We have to be a river; if we are getting blessed with money then, like a river, the money has to flow through us. Lastly, I’m beginning to understand the power of the law of giving. What is the law of giving? The more money we give, the more money we get. It might sound counter intuitive at first but, trust me, it works. I mean, if you want love, give love, if you want friendship, give friendship, if you want respect, give respect. So it is a no brainer that if you want money, well….give money.